How Jimmy McGill Manipulated Everyone (Better Call Saul) 

More than anyone else, he manipulated himself into believing his own lies that ultimately resulted in his downfall

Mike is the only one who never got scammed or corrupted by Jimmy.

He once convinced someone that he was Kevin Costner.

Part of Jimmy McGill's tragedy is the waste of potential. Imagine what great things he could have accomplished with those people skills if his motives hadn't been so self-centered, if he instead had used his talents to inspire people.

He eventually manipulated himself into believing he didn’t care about any of the things that happened to/hurt him (Kim/Chuck/Howard, etc.)

I feel like if jimmy looked up to Howard instead of Chuck he would have turned out differently

Vince Gilligan sure knows how to weave it all together. Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad are both so brilliant that everything else has fallen short by comparison. Thank you for the video. Great job.

Jimmy is arguably a better manipulator than Walter. Walter literally sought ideas and advice for Jimmy for ideas how to better protect his criminal activity. And Jimmy is the one who brought up the idea for Walter to use Hector to kill Gus.

Howard tried to help him get into a well-respected law firm TWICE and Jimmy blew those chances both times. Jimmy realized too late that he just couldn’t blame every bad thing that happened to him on Chuck. He had to hold himself accountable for his own failures as well.

The writing and acting on this show was just off the charts spectacular. It's criminal that it so few of the awards it was nominated for.

babe wake up, new Just an Observation BB/BCS analysis just dropped

On a sidenote, his British accent and all his "characters" in general always gave me a chuckle. His Louisiana twang was just so over the top I half expected the DA to catch it and ruin the scheme. If Jimmy had just used his unique gift and talents for something more constructive, a career in media advertising perhaps, I feel like he could've been really successful. As he said in Breaking Bad he's a humanities guy. He's creative, witty, eloquent, and as much as Chuck refuses to acknowledge it, very intelligent. Being a criminal lawyer is Jimmy's bad ending. Maybe working in media as an artist/producer/writer/what have you could have been his good ending. We see that he clearly has the talent for it. Such a great character. Such a bittersweet, tragic end.

Better Call Saul somehow ended up being _BETTER_ than Breaking Bad, which I don't think anybody was expecting to happen when the show began, even Vince Gilligan. But this video actually shows a huge part of why it was so compelling. It does all these things with every line in every scene and never even calls attention to them and goes "look how smart we are for writing this" like many other shows do. Quality is just imbued in every part of the show. Every single line is carefully considered, and has a good reason for existing, there's nothing throwaway, no fat whatsoever, only meat. You don't even notice how smart it's being until the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th etc time you watch it and you spot new things, or watch a great video like this that goes into one specific trend or character trait. And this aspect of the show and of Jimmy's character is really only a small part of what Better Call Saul is even about, there's hundreds of things just as important and they're all treated with absolute care just like this part is. The show has no lows, there aren't any episodes which even could be deemed a throwaway episode (like even Breaking Bad had a couple episodes that people call filler episodes, although I have to say I disagree, I think every episode of BB has a good reason for being just like in BCS, but people say things like the catching a fly episode are fillers, but I've never heard anyone say the same about any episode of BCS). And of course BCS has (eventually) all the same stuff about drugs and the cartel and murder that BB does, with most of the same characters too like Mike and Gus and Hector and Don Eladio and Tuco etc. But it's the lawyer aspect of it that really shines, the part of it which, again, BB fans weren't expecting to love as much as the cartel stuff. But in many ways, Chuck is the most fun antagonist to watch within the whole universe of BB/BCS. And the scenes about law and procedure are the ones I rewatch clips of on RU-vid most, like when Chuck gets the address of the new bank wrong while in court, which is one of the most compelling scenes in the whole show, and it's just some guys talking in a room. God damn you now I'm gonna have to watch BCS all over again, for I think something like the 7th time now. It only gets better the more times I watch it. But now I'll pay even more attention to this aspect of it, Jimmy's way with words, his con artistry. You've got me hooked onto the idea of watching it all again. But that's no bad thing.

Jimmy was a great story teller even after being gene he cant escape from being himself

Damn even after he nearly killed marion i still felt kinda bad for him

i like the way you say "Sinister"

to be honest, its hard to even get upset at jimmy for a lot of his simpler monetary scams because most are against entitled well off assholes, id do the same thing if i had the confidence and skills. if he didnt continuously spiral out of control id respect the grind

Possibly the best show I every watched

Honestly the main takeaway here is that Jimmy gives us a masterclass on how to pass a job interview 🙌

Thx RU-vid for the recommendation

Gotta say man, your videos are well-written and concise. Thanks for uploading good content 👍🏼

Found your channel a few weeks back, really enjoy your content. Very informative and insightful way of looking at this shows/movies.

I've got nothing to comment except; great video! May the algorithm bless you

I went into this video thinking. ok if this does nothing but tell me what I already know I'm shutting it off. However, I couldn't turn it off, very good!

Like GUS and WALT who hide behind their Persona of Commanding and Manipulative Leaders, while Jimmy relishes it as sleezy salesman Or enjoys it even -- like TYRION LANNISTER with his power, but still truing to do good among the BAD for STARKS those we like and CHIYA PASAL ILLMATIC and nostalgia

Love your videos man, keep it up! Jimmy McGill is the most fascinating character to me

Fantastic video! Loved the script, narration, editing, the whole megillah :)

I swear to God I thought there was gonna be a SquareSpace ad in the beginning when you talked about how brands represent themselves

Great video, great script, great analysis, great editing. Cheers

Apologies for being late to the party! Such an amazing series, and the arc of Jimmy/Saul/Gene is one of the greatest character arcs ever written. Thanks for covering, as always, and such a great commentary from you! Thank you again!

@12:47 Your warm, calm, academic voice describing Boston Crème Splat or Full Moon Moon-pie, or whatever the hell they call it west of the Mississippi, is everything. ❤ (Love all your stuff, btw. Great deep dives of well-executed shows.)

One thing that is great about this show is, we, the audience, tend to take the side of the scammers (Jimmy and Marco, for instance), because we can relate to being conned by salesmen and stock brokers, which are some of Jimmy's targets. All the while, we, the audience, are the ones also being manipulated. That's one of the joys of this show, in my opinion. It causes the audience to reflect on themselves.

There is a fine line between manipulation and persuasion for the sake of smooth sailing for all parties involved. For anyone good at these techniques, if you're a decent person, you'll often wonder which side of that line you are on. If you're not a decent person, the line blurs. If you're a terrible person, the line doesn't exist.

What I love so much about Vince Gilligan’s stories is his dedication to upholding the permanence of his characters’ actions. There is no going back, nobody comes back to life, no one goes back to normal. Walter and Jimmy ruin people’s lives and there is no redemption for them, just acceptance. Damn great storytelling.

This series of videos is awesome I need an indepth analysis about the main characters of Sons of Anarchy 😍

Right up until Kim manipulated Jimmy into going after Howard. Jimmy had decided he was fine waiting for Sandpiper, but Kim said the Sandpiper money from going after Howard would help her start her pro bono practice. Jimmy only agreed to go hard after Howard because he thought it would help Kim.

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

love this continued better call saul content

great vid brother

unbelievable show as well well as observation

im a simple girl i see a BB or BCS video i click

Great video as always.

Jimmy literally seems to be a genius.

And to think that a lot of pain would be evicted if only Jimmy answered his true calling at Advertising

such a good video. makes me realize just how smart jimmy is

12:19 Jimmy was looking for his missing dog, not a cat.

Love it. Coercion missing, though.

The Howard scheme was so brilliant

Great stuff!

Honestly howard should’ve just offered the girls some money to tell him who sent them 24:07

What a great thing to wake up too. More breaking bad universe content !🎉

This is such a banger

great analysis

Brilliant stuff ❤

I enjoyed your video, well done ❤

wow, great. Ive learned so much. now will try to put that knowledge into practice, thanks 🤪

Great video

This show was so brilliant on so many levels

a very fantastic video

Great video as always, are we going to get another one with Kim Wexler Manipulation or are you going to do another character?

Jimmy was a GENIUS

Love your videos! It's clear that you are getting better as well. Much love and keep up the great work!

good video!

I love these vids, you should do something to do with a side character next time! ❤

Always stay one step behind, but have long arms

Thought you were moving into a sponsorship with the talk of awareness of scams

I feel that Tai Lopez is the modern day Saul Goodman. Just a feeling.

a video on Park Yeon Jin from the glory would be nice

Nice video

He manipulated everyone except Francesca his receptionist lol...well, and Mike.

I want to rewatch the whole series, now.

Am I weird for enjoying “Better Call Saul” more than “Breaking Bad”? Both shows are about awful men whom destroy the lives of everyone close to them, but “…Saul” just felt more satisfying

Howards sabotage reminds me of what happens to celebrities after speaking out. Gossip, drug accusations, and im sure they bother u somehow to the point of paranoia so that it just adds credibility to their narrative of “theyre taking drugs and going crazy”

This is chilling, jimmy is kind of a serial killer.

Greatest show of all time

That thumbnail is all the evidence needed to award Bob Odenkirk the role of G-Man in a Half-Life movie.

This is one we have been waiting for!! Do Saltburn next for the oscars hype

what about the desert tuco scene? For me that was the best of jimmy being a manipulator

Tell me again.

Long live slippin' Jimmy

They wrote some good scenes for sure!

time to rewatch

I've realized that I've kind of use the guise of cluelessness in order to get what I want in certain situations. Never in a blatant scammer way, but like small cons here and there for insignificant things

Absolutely love the video and I wish to see more analysis of the show's characters in the future. Digressing a bit though, I'll never understand how people just give the whole credit to Gilligan everytime, even among the fans. He did an amazing job with BB but wasn't heavily involved at all in writing nor directing BCS, of which he wrote only four episodes. Gilligan's actual personal project has been El Camino, which kills every tipe of nuance in Jesse's character and in the BB-era writing style as a whole. On the opposite side, Peter Gould's constant supervision of writers such as Thomas Schnautz ("Plan and Execution"), Gennifer Hutchison ("Lantern"), Gordon Smith ("Chicanery") and everyone else involved allowed that universe to expand organically and to develop such complex personalities like Jimmy's.

12:29 wasn't it a dog he was looking for?

“Do you remember 19?” Is not an instruction. That would be the equivalent of “do you want to step right up?”

Jimmy was pretty damned honest actually

Fantastic video just like the show

Petition to have Vince Gilligan redo Game of Thrones seasons 6 through 8

Honestly thought the opening song was Hey Baby from No Doubt Gus’s actor has a new show on AMC staring next month (apr 2024), hoping it will be another great drama.

The scene where he manipulated Tuco was wild!

23:19 Authors Of Pain

Incredible vid. Concise. Well constructed. Great work.

GOAT show

cheers

I have a fair question, could you observe F is for Family? It seems you rarely do animations, I get that, but the show is an underrated gem, in my opinion the show is grounded when it comes to a Family. The Responsibility and pressures of Parents who gave up happiness and there dreams to provide for there Families and the growing pains of children as they grow up, changing and why those changes happened, losing innocences and discovering identity. At least, it's my opinion on what the show is, I wanna know what you think the show is.

The biggest tragedy is that he even believed his own lies

My top ten TV show of all time ❤

09:17 I just love that there's a guy dead asleep in the jury box! LOL, 3rd in from the left on the top row. Hilarious! EDIT: I do realize that this is a still shot from the episode, but its obvious that he's asleep and not caught on a blink.

Marco was the real GOAT